Tingle Mines the Humor in Politics
By Ashley Welch
Though the presidential election is over a year away, one man has his eyes on the prize this summer. His name is Jimmy Tingle and he is a comedian who has taken his one-man show, Jimmy Tingle for President: The Funniest Campaign in History, to the Triad this July. Though the show was created in 2008, Tingle has updated it to reflect the current national zeitgeist. Whether describing his idea to save energy by placing a small windmill on every traffic light in America or the components of the Tingle Tax Plan, he approaches the day’s pressing issues with a sense of humor.
A comic for over 30 years, Tingle has appeared on The Tonight Show and Late Night with Conan O’Brien, been a commentator on 60 Minutes II in the Andy Rooney spot and starred in his own HBO comedy special.
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State Dems Have Only Themselves to Blame
Unfortunately, Republicans aren’t going to make it any better
If there is a single thing we saw in this year’s election cycle, it is the futility of incredibly long campaigns that last, sometimes, for years. Some may argue the point, saying that you have to “stage” an election and that the millions of dollars and huge numbers of hours that are devoted to the campaigns pay dividends. To counter that idea, consider the possibility that voters are really not all that stupid and sometimes actually know what they want. In this case, they didn’t make up their minds until the very last week of the campaign. They are even able to decide which of the lesser of two evils they are willing to put up with. Andrew Cuomo was a central figure throughout the process. Carl Paladino self-destructed and lost his angry edge when he went too far. Still, despite his gaffes and considering all the tabloid attacks in the New York Post and the Daily News, he did extraordinarily well, proving that homophobia and racism still sell. Read more
East Siders Go to the Polls
By Dan Rivoli
Most of the races East Siders will be voting for are foregone conclusions.
Democrats are expected to win the two Senate races, and Andrew Cuomo is a lock for governor. Locally, state legislators will walk into a new two-year term. Read more
BLOOMBERG FOR KRUEGER
By Dan Rivoli
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is sticking with his representative in the State Senate, Liz Krueger. The Upper East Side Democrat earned Bloomberg’s praise for being an “independent, principled and smart legislator.”
The two recently collaborated on a law Krueger authored that allows the city to crack down on illegal hotels and hostels. Read more
Those Pesky Campaign Posters
Section 10-119 of the NYC Administrative Code states, in part, “It [is] unlawful for any person to paste, post, paint, print, nail or attach or affix…any handbill, poster, notice, sign, ad, sticker or other printed material upon any…tree, lamppost…telephone pole, public utility pole…bus shelter…parking meter, mail box, traffic control device…[or] public pay telephone…or to direct, suffer or permit any servant, agent, employee or other person under his or her control to engage in such activity…” Note that there is no exemption for political candidates. Read more
Decision ’09: General Election
This November, two citywide offices are up for grabs, and several local incumbents are facing Republican challengers at the polls. To give voters a better idea of the men and women vying for their support, we asked each of the candidates to fill out a brief questionnaire explaining their positions and goals in 300 words or less. Responses have been edited for style and clarity. Read more
Krueger’s Keeping the Faith
Liz Krueger, who won a hard-fought special election in 2002 to claim State Sen. Roy Goodman’s seat for Democrats, has been focused on another fight this year. As one of her party’s most prominent advocates for legislative reform, she spent the early summer trying to negotiate an end to the State Senate deadlock, and has since been planning for a productive fall in Albany—and a way to restore voter faith in state government. Our Town recently sat down with Krueger to talk about the deadlock, recent legislative developments and office décor. Read more
Primary Day Is Over, But Races Continue
The primary election was in some ways a sleepy affair, with only 10 percent of the city’s voters turning out. Comptroller Bill Thompson, as expected, won the Democratic Party’s nomination for mayor handily, with 70 percent of the vote, according to unofficial returns. But two citywide races will now have run-off elections between the top two candidates, and voters gave Cy Vance a decisive win in the hotly contested Manhattan district attorney race.
Moments after the polls closed, the general election between Thompson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg began, with both candidates lobbing blistering attacks at each other. Read more
Voter-in-Training
Council Member Jessica Lappin and her son, Lucas, are greeted by election workers before Lappin cast her vote in the primary. This was Lucas’s first trip into the voting booth with his mom, at Cathedral High School on East 56th Street.Photo by Andrew Schwartz
Our Election Picks
Lest the daily overflow of campaign mailings didn’t tip you off, there is a primary election in New York City on Sept. 15, with several key offices up for grabs. We hope that voter turnout will be high to reflect this particularly important juncture in city history.
Readers should note that for two of these offices (comptroller and public advocate), the winner from a field of four candidates needs to get 40 percent of the vote. That means that if no one broaches the 40 percent mark—a very likely occurrence—there will be a Sept. 29 run-off election between the top two contenders, prolonging the politicking. Read more
